a pirate's compeers
by Xephonia
Summary: Pirate captain Nasch comes back to his hometown and is greeted by his friend Yuuma. [Pirate AU part 5]


Ryouga would say he'd missed Heartland, but that'd mean he'd missed Kaito, and besides, Heartland City is a dangerous place to be at when you're a wanted fugitive.

So, has he missed Heartland? _Yeah, kind of._

He hasn't missed walking in on Yuuma attempting to steal a ship without a crew.

"Shark!" Yuuma shouts and waves from the ship (which Ryouga immediately recognizes as Kaito's), just to realize he might attract the guards if he keeps it up, so he pouts and jumps into the water, swimming the few meters to the water. "You're back!"

Nowadays, Ryouga doesn't get to talk to Yuuma as often, so he lets Yuuma hug him. "Yeah."

"Kaito told me you'd be coming back, soon, but I didn't think it'd be that soon."

"That bastard."

 _So much about not letting Yuuma find out._

Ryouga knows he had it coming given his friends with benefits status (that's what Vector calls it nowadays, but Ryouga himself doesn't actually know) with Kaito, but it's annoying all the same, because Yuuma never lets him go when he's here.

He's known Yuuma for a quite a while now. They'd met back when Ryouga had just started being a pirate, and ever since then Yuuma wants to be a pirate, too. They're kind of like best friends, and Yuuma is basically Ryouga's only non-pirate friend now (Kaito doesn't count because Kaito was part of his crew for a week). Ryouga rejected Yuuma when he tried to join the crew, if only because he is reckless and unaware of danger.

That doesn't stop Yuuma from trying to become a pirate anyway, though.

"I still can't believe you managed to make Kaito, of all people, do pirate things," Yuuma stops hugging him in favor of getting some of the water out of his clothes. "I heard you stole his ship a while ago, so I wanted to try, too. While he's still on vacation and all."

"Kaito and vacation?" Ryouga raises an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Yeah. There was some tension between him and some of the Arclights," Yuuma's smile is crooked. "Anyway, wanna go to a hang out?"

Ryouga wants to say no, he's only here to restock, but between Yuuma's pout and his curiosity as to how Yuuma knows Kaito, he agrees. A look back at his ship tells him that Vector has left the ship, too, currently pickpocketing a few bystanders.

Their gazes meet.

Vector nods once, then runs off.

While Vector is a giant piece of shit that Ryouga always has to be wary around, Vector is also reliable when it comes to the ship.

The Ark is Vector's freedom, he's as lost as Ryouga is without it.

(Ryouga may or may not have to worry about Yuuma's well-being in the future though, now that Vector has seen him.)

"—Yeah, let's go."

* * *

Ryouga is not surprised when Yuuma stares awkwardly at the rum in front of him and doesn't quite touch his glass at all.

"Let me guess. You never had alcohol?"

"I—I did! Just, not in a pub."

(Ryouga imagines Kaito and Yuuma and a bottle of rum and almost laughs.)

A man a few meters away is passed out on the floor, snoring.

"Don't worry. We're not drinking much," Ryouga says, and he empties his glass in one go.

"Wow."

"So, about Kaito. How do you know him?"

"Remember what I told you about my friend who has a sick brother? That's him."

 _Oh. So that's how it was._

Ryouga remembers Yuuma visiting a young child repeatedly in his free time, saying it's a good friend's younger brother.

Apparently Ryouga'd spaced out for a bit, because Yuuma takes his hat off and puts it on himself. "I still really like your hat."

Ryouga doesn't know what to say, but he nods, because Yuuma is the only one who likes the hat.

Yuuma goes on, "So, how do you know Kaito? I know how you ended up on his ship, but, how come he didn't arrest you or something?"

Ryouga looks for an excuse that doesn't make the truth glaringly obvious, "Uh, we fought quite a lot, and—"

He's interrupted by Kaito saying his name.

"Oi, Nasch." Kaito keeps to Ryouga's request of not calling him by his real name as he walks up to them, dragging Vector along by the back of his shirt collar as he does. "Your rat was sneaking around next to Yuuma's—"

"Hey, Kaito!" Yuuma grins.

"Yuuma?" Kaito raises an eyebrow, looks at the hat, looks back at Ryouga, smirks.

"So you're Yuuma-kun, huh?" Vector gets out of Kaito's grip and shakes Yuuma's hand. "I'm Vector~"

"Don't trust him," Kaito and Ryouga hiss simultaneously.

Yuumga tilts his head in confusion. "Is he from your crew, Shark?"

Vector laughs. "He calls you 'Shark'? So Nasch is Shark- _kun_ , huh?"

"Do not even dare." Ryouga glares, and Vector keeps laughing.

"So, Yuuma-kun~ Wanna spar?"

"Sure!"

Kaito scowls. "Bad idea."

But Yuuma and Vector are already running away, so they have no choice but to follow.

Especially since Yuuma has Ryouga's hat.

* * *

"Long time no see." Kaito has his hand at the hilt of his sword.

"Just a month." Ryouga eyes Vector and Yuuma as they walk in front of him.

Ryouga would love to fight Kaito right now, but odds are Vector uses the opportunity to kill someone.

(Okay, maybe not just fight, but that's besides the point.)

So they watch.

And since it's Vector, he brings a knife to a fist fight, and Ryouga is about to step in when Yuuma jump hugs Vector and disarms him that way.

Silence.

Vector starts laughing. Ryouga can tell that Vector is physically weaker.

"I win, right?" Yuuma grins.

"For now."

Vector gets pulled to his feet by Yuuma, and his expression is one mix of surprise and excitement.

Ryouga hates that look, it's the look that leads to Vector doing dangerous things.

Kaito lets out a breath he must've been holding for a quite a while, then he frowns. "So, why are you here?"

"I was gonna restock and see if you can stop me."

"Well, then tell me when you wanna try."

"You're on."

* * *

Unsurprisingly, the result of Ryouga's try is a draw.

He and Kaito are lying in the grass, panting, too exhausted to stand or even think of holding a blade.

Ryouga can't get this feeling anywhere else. No one else compares to Kaito in pure fighting skill.

(There's Alit, but fists against a sword is plain unfair. Ryouga does get better at fist fights nowadays though.)

"Sure you don't wanna join?" Ryouga looks at the night sky instead of Kaito, looks at the big dipper and appreciates the clear sky.

Appreciates that the others went about their plunder without causing much of a commotion, too.

"Can't." Kaito seems to breathe faster now. "You know. My brother."

"He's sick, right?"

"That, too. The main problem is that he's cursed."

"Cursed?" Ryouga sits up abruptly, just to hold his head from the dizziness. "I think I may be able to do something about that. Y'know, my crew is borrowing some ghost thing's powers."

'Ghost thing' is a nice way to not say 'god', because that's what Don Thousand most likely is, but Ryouga doesn't like to acknowledge it.

(It took him long enough to accept that his current freedom is given and not achieved.)

Kaito sits up, too. "What?"

Ryouga hears a sound from a few meters away, but dismisses it as the usual noise.

"Yeah, you know, we aren't exactly normal." Ryouga gestures at the Barian crest as if it explains anything, but Kaito has seen the pink crystal island they call their home, so he probably understands. "We could ask Don Thousand if he  
knows anything about your brother. Better than to just sit it out and hope the curse goes away, right?"

Ryouga doesn't quite know what type of curse it is, and he doesn't intend to ask either since it's not a topic he's well-versed in, so asking Don Thousand feels like the most intuitive thing.

(Mostly, it's just Ryouga's older brother instincts making him want Kaito's brother to be safe.)

Kaito doesn't think about the offer at all, but nods immediately, and Ryouga could swear he'd seen a smile for a second there. "I'll take you up on the offer."

"We'll leave tonight then. You're on vacation, right?"

"Well, not anymore."

"Can't get lazy." Ryouga smirks. "Well, now that that's done-" He pulls Kaito in by the collar, but is interrupted by a loud

"Ouch!"

and a thump as Yuuma falls flat on his face around the corner, followed by Vector who lands on top of him.

"Idiot!" Vector hisses, but Ryouga can tell it's fake.

Yuuma gets up from below Vector. "Hehe... Sorry about the interruption. You guys can. Continue. We'll be going!"

And Yuuma runs off again, taking Vector's hand as he does.

Vector sticks out his tongue when he makes eye contact with Ryouga. Ryouga holds up his middle finger.

And Kaito? Kaito is laughing.

"What?" Ryouga scowls.

"Your expression. Priceless."


End file.
